The body weight or body mass of a person has many important health implications. Depending on his or her body weight, a person may be classified as, for example, severely underweight, underweight, normal weight, overweight, obese, or morbidly obese. Some of these categories are associated with greatly increased health risks. How much one weighs also can affect how society views the person and how the person views himself or herself. Thus, millions of people are currently seeking to lose body weight, each with an eye toward losing a certain number of pounds by diet and/or exercise.
Weight scales allow users to track weight gain or loss by allowing users to determine their current body weight, which may then be manually compared with the results of previous weighings. Additionally, weight scales allow users the ability to track their progress with a finer granularity than with mere physical appearance or how clothes fit.